Fourth dose of the vaccine: there are still no conclusive data on its efficacy against Ómicron

The fourth dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 it is only “partially effective” with the Omicron variant, according to preliminary results from a study by Israel’s Sheba Medical Center with a booster dose from both Pfizer and Moderna.

”Despite the increase in antibody levels, the fourth vaccine offers only a partial defense against the virus. Thus, the vaccines (Pfizer/Moderna), which were more effective against previous variants, offer less protection against Ómicron”, announced Gili Regev-Yochay, who is leading the investigation.

The trial was conducted among 154 Sheba medical staff who received a Pfizer dose and another 120 who were inoculated with the Moderna dose.

All volunteers were previously vaccinated with the three doses of Pfizer.

”The trials showed that one week after people received the Moderna vaccine, the increase in antibody levels was similar to that of those who r”, ends this first essay.

In addition, the research showed that, two weeks after receiving the fourth Pfizer vaccine, “Antibody levels continued to rise slightly after the first week.”

“The increase in antibody levels that we saw with both Moderna and Pfizer is slightly higher than what we saw after the third booster shot”, assures Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Diseases Unit, who nevertheless detects less effectiveness with the current dominant variant.

The Israeli government recently authorized the administration of a fourth dose of the vaccine for people who are elderly or considered to be at risk.

More than 537,000 Israelis have received it, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health.

Agencies